Happy Birthday America

Orangeville decorated their walkway into the park with flags at their recent celebration.

America celebrates this week on July 4. The beginning of freedom in a budding nation, one nation under God. Our nation isn't old as far as countries go. We don't have history that goes back thousands of years, but we do have a tradition of freedom. Our nation started out with the idea that we wouldn't interfere too much with the rest of the world. We would leave them alone and hope that they left us alone to worship as we wished and develop our nation as we saw fit. This worked for quite awhile. Things change though and with technology, transportation and communication the way it is.......it's hard to remain as an ostrich with his head in the sand and not get involved in the things of the world.

It's hard to sit back and watch people being abused in various parts of the world and not want to do something about it. Our nation has been at the forefront in disaster relief and aid to foreign countries. There are those who say we shouldn't send massive amounts of money to other countries when we have people in need here in our own country. If we don't help these people, then who will? Who will take notice when children are dying from hunger and disease. I think it is our responsibility as the greatest country on the earth to give back some of what we have learned over the years. To help the people of Iraq to establish a democracy and to teach the people to care for and govern themselves without tyranny is a very noble undertaking.

Our country has made some mistakes since September 11. We have been suspicious of those with backgrounds similar to those who committed the terrorist attacks

against our country. It is a hard, tough world that we live in these days. You can never be sure who might hold a bomb or a gun. We have to live our lives and continue on with what we need to do. We cannot live in fear, to live in fear is to live without freedom. I spent some time in downtown Salt Lake last week at the Miss Utah pageant. I was asked for food and money from those people on the streets. I never know how to react to something like that. I usually always give them whatever I have in my pocket at the time. I usually don't carry cash, I have five sons and cash is not something I'm familar with. You can buy just about anything you need though with a check. It's sad that we have homeless and hungry people in our country. I don't think the government should take care of us. We should provide for our own needs, but we need to have a job and skills to do so. One of my sons returned from a cruise to Mexico one time, practically penniless and in debt to his boss for $200 more because he had given all of his money to those begging children on the streets. Maybe he didn't save the whole economy of Mexico, but hopefully he made a difference in the life of a child or two, and not only that I chewed Chicklets gum for a month.

I applaud the efforts of the United States in trying to make a difference in the world. If we just give up and shrug our shoulders and close our wallets and our hearts where will we be? Are we not our brothers keeper? America doesn't have all of the answers, but we do have some and we have the talent and the means to make a difference in the world. I am proud to be an American. Happy Birthday America. Bring on the birthday cake.